Our Directors
Professor Ruth Webber
Professor Ruth Webber is a Founding Director of the Quality of Life and Social Justice Flagship. She has postgraduate qualifications in education, psychology and sociology. In 1997 she was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship, which enabled her to study fieldwork education in the UK, USA and Canada. Her recent research has focussed on youth spirituality, intellectual disability and ageing, families, stepfamilies, youth violence, substance abuse, and social policy. She also has national and international publications on ‘at risk' youth. Over the past four years, she has received four ARC Linkage grants. She is on the editorial board of two journals and several welfare organisations. Social justice is of paramount importance to her research activities and community service. She is the Chair of Anglicare Victoria's Research Ethics Committee (AVREC). She is one of the authors of The spirit of Generation Y: Young people’s spirituality in a changing Australia. The book, launched in October 2007 is a major contribution to discussion about Generation Y.
Professor Barbara Bowers
Professor Barbara Bowers began her association with ACU when she was the inaugural appointment to the Edith Morgan Chair in Aged Care at ACU National. She was the Founding Research Director of the Flagship in 2005. In 2007, she returned to a fulltime position as Director of the Centre for Excellence in Long-term Care Policy, School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin, Madison. However, Professor Bowers will continue to spend some months in Australia each year until at least 2009 to work on an Australian Research Council funded study entitled ‘Accommodating the needs of people with a lifelong intellectual disability in residential aged care’. Professor Bowers has extensive knowledge and experience in aged care, expertise in the development of public policy, and experience of working in collaborative research team and with community partners.
